A Hunting Journey
by Deans sexy lady
Summary: Mel is a first rate hunter, adopted by Ellen and Jo when her parents died, she has been hunting happily on her own for years, but then she meets the Winchesters, and things change.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**** – First meeting **

Mel walked slowly from her car to the Roadhouse entrance. She hitched her duffel back up onto her shoulder, and winced slightly. Damn vampires, she thought to herself. She had just finished a hunt where she had cleared out a nest of vamps. And she'd done a pretty fine job if she could say so herself, but the last vamp had managed to dislocate her shoulder. She'd popped it back in herself, but damn, it was still sore.

She smiled to herself as she thought back over the last couple of days. She loved her job, and because of that she excelled at it.

She made her way into the bar, and smiled as she saw Ellen wiping down tables.

"Hi Ellen, need a hand?"

Ellen looked up and a huge smile lit her face.

"Mel, sweety, you're back. I'm so glad I was worried about you."

Mel smiled. Ellen had taken over the role of her mother, ever since her own mother had been killed when she was 11, along with her father. They had both been hunters and from what she'd heard people say, pretty good ones too. Mel had grown up with Jo, who she thought of as a younger sister. She smiled sadly to herself thinking of Jo. Things had been a bit strained between them the last couple of years., ever since Mel had started hunting. She knew that Jo was desperate to start hunting herself but she could understand why Ellen forbid her from actually doing it. She knew Jo had been putting together files for different cases that Ellen had been handing out to other hunters who came to her bar. She also knew that Jo was going to keep one of them for herself one day.

"Ellen, I really wished you'd stop worrying. I can look after myself. Where's Jo?"

Ellen nodded to the door to the flat above the Roadhouse, "she's up there putting together another file. We had a bit of a fight earlier, so she's sulking."

"Oh", well I'm just going to go up and say hi, see how she's doing."

"OK honey, try and get some rest too, you look tired."

"OK, Thanks Ellen. It's good ot be home."

Mel headed up the back stairs. She knew how lucky she was to have Ellen and Jo. Hell even Ash. They were her family, and she would always be grateful to them for looking out for her, and accepting them into their family.

She got to the top of the stairs and dumped her bag in her room, then headed to Jo's room. She knocked the door, and waited for an answer.

"I'm still here Mom, and I'm still not talking to you. Just leave me alone".

Mel sighed, feeling awkward. She knew what Jo and Ellen had been fighting about, and knew that she definitely would have been mentioned.

"It's just me Jo" Mel said and opened the door. Jo was sitting at her desk, laptop on looking at newspaper clippings. She turned around to look at Mel, and a smile spread across her face.

"Hey Mel. Glad you got back ok, I've missed you being around!"

"So you had another fight with your Mum, huh? She asked looking at Jo.

Jo just nodded, and Mel could tell she felt awkward, confirming Mel's suspicions. The fight would definitely have been centred around the fact that Ellen let Mel go on hunts, and not Jo. Not wanting to provoke Jo's anger Mel thought she should change the subject.

"So what have I missed while I've been away then? Any exciting news coming through on the hunting grapevine?"

Jo smiled at Mel, grateful for the change of subject and shook her head. "You haven't missed much actually. The Winchester boys came round the other day – have you met them before? Dean is so hot. I mean Sam is hot too, but got Dean! That is a fine male specimen if ever I saw one."

Mel laughed, "Jo, you think every hunter that comes through here under 30 is hot"

Jo smiled defensively, "well it's not like there are many other men I can compare to is there? I'm always stuck here, not like you!".

"OK, ok, I don't want to get into an argument. Anyone to answer your question, No I haven't met them before. Heard plenty about them though, and their Dad. Come to think of it I think I heard that he died recently?"

Jo looked sad but nodded at Mel. "Yeah, they were pretty cut up about it. They came here and spoke to Ash about some stuff then went to look into some killer clown thing."

Mel laughed "Killer clown, are you serious? Glad I missed out on that one. Creepy ass clowns. Anyway I'm going to take a shower and go down and see your Mum. Try not to be too hard on her Jo, she really is just trying to look out for you. It's what mothers do."

Jo nodded and Mel left the room. She really did need a shower, not having a chance to clean herself up properly since she killed those vamps. She headed to her room, and into the little ensuite bathroom. She always missed her little room when she was away, and was so grateful to have some place to come back to and call home. She knew most hunters didn't have that luxury. She jumped in the shower and enjoyed the feel of the hot water beating down on her, relaxing her tense muscles. She was in there longer than normal, in the mood for some relation. She loved the buzz of a hunt, but was always so tired when it was over, and she got back here. She made her way out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, quickly towel drying her long hair. She couldn't be bothered to dry it and decided to let it do so on it's own, knowing that it would end up wavy.

She grabbed a pair of Jeans, and a pale yellow tee, then quickly brushed on some make-up. She knew that Ellen would still be tidying downstairs from last night, getting ready for the rare customers that came in, in the early afternoon and Mel figured she's need a hand, seeing as how Jo was still sulking at her mother.

She ran down the stairs quickly, calling out to Ellen on her way, "Hey Ellen, Do you need me to go grab anything from the store? We were getting low on pretzels before I left to kill those vamps" She laughed to herself remembering the look on the vampires faces when they realised she wasn't actually going to be their dinner but their end.

Mel came through the door and stopped short. There were two men sitting at the bar talking to Ellen. God were they hot. Mel blushed as she realised the shorter one was looking her over. She vaguely wondered if maybe she shouldn't have been shouting about killing vampires, but then dismissed the thought. These guys were hunters if ever she'd seen any.

Ellen smiled over at Mel, and then back at the boys. "Hey boys, meet Mel Johnson. Mel this is Sam and Dean Winchester."

"Hey, I've heard a lot about you guys, nice to meet you finally."

The shorter one looked at Mel "Mel Johnson? That sounds familiar. I think I've heard of you before? Just can't think where."

Mel winked at the guys, "sure hope it was good, whatever you heard. Anyway sorry to be rude and run off, but I've got to go to the store. Hey Ellen, do you want me to pick anything up?"

Ellen shook her hear, "No I'm good thanks Sweetie. See you later"

"See ya" Mel shot back over her shoulder to Ellen and the two men.

She got to her car, and had to compose herself for a minute. That Dean Winchester really was hot, she could understand everything that Jo had been saying. It was sad to see all that pain lurking behind his eyes, even when he did smile at her. She revved the engine of her car, and didn't notice when the Winchesters came out of the door and headed to their own car.

"Hey Sam, why does that girls name sound so familiar? And Damn, did you see her? Can't believe she's a hunter with a face like that, the girl was hot."

Sam sighed, "Dean, trust you to notice how hot she was. And I know where we've heard of her before – from Bobby? Remember he was telling about a hunter he knew? Only a young girl, but had amazing skills, and could give us all a run for our money?"

Dean looked at Sam, "Dude, you must have got the names muddled. No way that girl could be the same one he was talking about. A girl couldn't hunt like Bobby described, and still look that hot".

Sam sighed and got into the passenger side of the Impala.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N HI guys….this is my first story, and I would be really grateful for any comments you guys have….good or bad! Thank you soooo much to my first two reviewers. I was so excited to hear from you guys. It really gave me a buzz. You can probably tell that I've started this from Season two, but I'm not going to be going through every episode as that would just take forever and I want to start getting some personal stuff into the story as soon as possible.**** And I know the chapters are a bit short at the moment, but I really want some feedback, just in case people hate it and don't think it's worth carrying on with. It's going to get good I promise, so please stick with it if you think it's a bit slow moving at first. Please, please review and let me know if there is anything you'd like to see in the story. **

**Chapter Two – ****No Exit Part I **

Mel was smiling to herself in her sleep. She was having a really interesting dream involving Dean Winchester and a shower. Just as it was getting to the good part she could hear a door being pounded on. Trying to ignore the noise, which definitely had no place in her dream, she put the pillow over her head. A minute later she was cruelly woken up when her blanket was pulled roughly away from her body.

"Mel, would you please wake up, I need your help. Jo's gone."

Ellen gently shook on Mel's shoulder and Mel sat up in bed trying to get her bearings.

"Ellen, what do you mean Jo's gone?" she asked, concern in her voice, with just a little bit of anger. Trust Jo to pull something like this. She didn't realise how lucky she was having Ellen to worry about her.

"We had an argument last night. She'd put together a new case file and wanted to go hunt the damn thing, but I told her no. I can't believe she would just leave like this. I mean I knew one day she'd end up going, but she's just so inexperienced, anything could happen to her."

Mel put a hand on Ellen's shoulder, "Hey come on, don't worry. You know Jo, she's probably just gone to let off steam somewhere and trying to get you worried."

"No Mel, this was different. I think she's gone after the thing, I really do." Ellen pushed a hand through her hair warily and then looked back at Mel, " Please honey, you've got to help me find her. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her."

Mel got up from her bed, and grabbed some clothes from her dresser, " don't worry Ellen, I'll find her I promise. Did you speak to Ash yet?"

Ellen nodded, " Yeah, he says she's gone to Vegas, something about a credit card trail, but I don't buy it."

"OK, let me talk to him and see what I can come up with."

"Thanks sweetie, I knew I could count on you. I'm going to call round a few people, see if they've heard anything."

Ellen left the room and Mel continued getting dressed. Damn Jo, she really could be a pain in the ass sometimes. She made her way in to the bathroom for a quick wash. Seeing the shower brought back memories of her dream and she felt herself blush. She'd been having dreams about Dean Winchester ever since she'd clapped on eyes on him a few months back, and she couldn't understand it – she didn't usually get all this dreamy about guys. She was definitely more of the 'love em and leave em' type. Shaking her head to clear all thoughts of the dream she set to brushing her teeth.

After a minute she left her room and went down to talk to Ash. She knew that Jo would have told Ash where she would have been going, as he would have been the one to lay the credit card trail for her. He might not be willing to share the information with Ellen, but Mel was pretty sure that she'd get it out of him.

She took a deep breath, then knocked on his door. She waited thirty seconds for sounds of movement and when there were none she opened the door and walked through, only to be confronted by Ash in his underwear at his computer.

"Hey Ash, why didn't you answer when I knocked on the door?"

Ash looked at Mel glumly, "I thought you might be Ellen again."

Mel looked at Ash, feeling her patience coming to an end when he mentioned Ellen's name. Damn Jo, and damn Ash for covering for her. Why couldn't they understand what this was doing to Ellen? Damn selfish people. But then Mel realised that Ellen probably worried about her just the same when she went out on hunts and felt a pang of guilt.

"Ash, where is she?"

"Mel, I really can't tell you. She threatened to cut off my manhood with pliers! I mean, why would someone say something like that to me? Urgh" He shuddered at the thought of what Jo had threatened.

"Forget Jo Ash. I really doubt that she would go _anywhere _near that no matter what you did."

"Huh?" Ash looked at Mel uncomprehendingly. She sighed and thought she'd try her softly, softly approach with Ash. It usually worked, he had a major soft spot for her.

"Please Ash, tell me where she is. I won't let her know that you did. I just want to make sure she's ok and not getting herself hurt, because I just don't think I could stand it if anything happened to her. You know I think of you guys as my family" Mel threw in a sniffle for affect. It wasn't that what she was saying wasn't true, but hell she was going to throttle Jo the moment she did find her.

"Please Mel, don't cry. You know I can't stand it when you cry, please." He said looking up at her. Mel hid her face behind her hair and let out another sniffle. "Here, here, take the file. Jo gave me a copy to look over before she left."

A huge smile lit Mel's face "Thanks Ash, I knew I could rely on you" and she bent down and planted a kiss on his cheek. Leaving him stuttering at his chair she turned around and practically ran from the room looking for Ellen. She got to the bar and saw Ellen hang up the phone.

"Hey Ellen, I think I know where Jo is, I'm going to grab some stuff and head off. I'll give you a call as soon as I've found her."

"Thanks honey. I've got a few people looking out for her and they're going to let me know if they hear anything too."

Mel rushed up the back stairs to her room and grabbed her duffel. She hadn't even had a chance to unpack from her last hunt yet, but she was pretty sure that she still had some clean clothes in there somewhere. She gave Ellen a quick kiss on the way out and rushed out to her car. She threw her bag in the backseat and started the car. She was going to find Jo and talk some sense into that girl.

_Three hours later_

Mel parked her car outside of the building checking she definitely had the right address. When she realised she did she grabbed her cell and tried calling Jo one more time before she actually went looking for her. Sighing with frustration when she didn't answer the call she grabbed her bag and got out of the car looking around the parking lot. She noticed a shiny black 67 Impala that she was sure she'd seen somewhere before, she just couldn't place it. Shrugging the feeling off she walked into the building.

As soon as she entered she realised that she had no way of knowing where Jo would be, if she was even there at all. After walking round the building, trying not to look like she was up to no good she heard heavy footfalls on the stairs behind her. She turned around and saw a slightly overweight man giving her the once over, then an idea came to her.

"Hi, um, I'm looking for my sister, I was supposed to meet her here to look at an apartment with her but I can't remember what number it was. Have you seen a blonde girl around here? About 5 ft 5, and slim?" Mel asked the man with a sweet smile.

The man smiled at Mel, "Well yes I have, just rented the apartment to her in fact."

"Oh great, you couldn't just remind me of the number could you? I can't get hold of her on her cell."

A look of doubt crossed the mans face, but as soon as Mel smiled at him, moving her hair over her shoulder he said, "sure honey, 221".

"Thanks, I better hurry. She's going to be so mad at me for missing the appointment."

As soon as Mel was round the corner from the man she grinned to herself. Men were so predictable, a quick smile and shake of the hair and you could get just about anything out of them. She approached the apartment and listened at the door for any noises from inside. When there was none she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Remembering the reason she was here, she could feel herself getting mad at Jo again. She really was a selfish little brat sometimes.

About thirty seconds after she knocked the door was opened by Jo. "Mel, what are you doing here? Does my Mom know I'm here?"

Mel pushed her way past Jo and rounded on her. "Jo, I really can't believe you, You are so selfish sometimes. Your Mom is worried sick. Did you really think that she would buy the whole Vegas thing? I mean come on, she's not stupid. You don't realise just how lucky you are to have her. She's trying to protect you and keep you safe, you're all that she has" she fumed at Jo.

"Look Mel, you don't know what you're talking about. It's alright for you, she lets you do whatever you want. Do you really think that I want to be stuck working in that bar for the rest of my life when I know what's going on out there?"

"Jo, can you hear yourself, It's all about you, you, you. Do you think that I wish I didn't have a mother to stop me from going out risking my life? She loves you Jo, that's not a bad thing. I wish I had someone to worry about me like that!"

"Mel, are you blind? Mom worries about you just as much as she does about me, she just knows there's nothing she can do about it."

Just as Mel was about to bite back at Jo, she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She wheeled round to be confronted by Dean Winchester, and a very embarrassed looking Sam behind him.

"Dean, Sam, what are you doing here? Did she talk you into doing this hunt with her? Didn't you know how worried Ellen was going to be when she just disappeared?"

Dean's eyes bulged, "Hey, calm down, you've got the wrong end of the stick. We got the case from Jo a couple of days ago. We had no idea she was going to be here."

Sam walked a little closer, "It's true Mel. We had no idea she'd be here. Hell we only bumped into her an hour ago"

Mel looked a little sheepish, and flushed with embarrassment when she realised that she had jumped down their throats for no reason, not to mention the screaming match they had just witnessed between her and Jo. "Sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you guys. I'm just so mad right now."

Sam smiled, "Yeah, we got that impression. Look we were just going through some stuff on the laptop, trying to dig up some history on the place. Jo's been saying that you're really good at this sort of thing, do you want to have a look?"

Mel smiled back at Sam, glad that he wasn't trying to make her feel bad for her temper. "OK, I guess I can take a look, but I need to call Ellen and let her know I've found Jo."

"Yeah, that's just what I was saying before you turned up." Mel turned around to look at Dean as he spoke. She suddenly remembered the dream that she had been having that morning, and felt a blush creep up her neck.

"Please, guys, can you just wait a little bit? I know I need to call my Mom, but seriously as soon as she knows where I am she's going to come storming down here. I want to do this hunt." Mel could swear she saw tears in Jo's eyes as she made her speech.

She suddenly felt a little bit sorry for Jo. Her remark about Ellen worrying about her just as much had hit a sore spot. She knew that Ellen worried about her whenever she was hunting, but that didn't stop her from going. Maybe she did understand where Jo was coming from, "look Jo, I need to atleast let your mom know that you're safe. I'll text her to let her know I've found you and you're fine and that I'm trying to talk you in to coming back with me. She's going to be mad as hell at me for not dragging you back there straight away, but I guess I can see where you're coming from."

"Thanks Mel." Jo stepped forward and the two girls embraced briefly.

"OK, enough of the chick flick moments, we've got some research to do" Dean said, looking uncomfortable at all the hugging going on.

They headed over to the table where the lap top was set up, and Mel was sure that she heard Dean whisper to Sam "Dude, did you see that girl go? Remind me never to get on the wrong side of her. It was hot though."

Mel smirked, so Dean Winchester thought she was hot? Well, she didn't think he was too bad either!

She grabbed her cell and quickly sent a message to Ellen, then turned it off before Ellen could call her and start asking questions. She felt bad about what she was doing, but she wouldn't let anything happen to Jo. She took a seat at the table next to Jo and opposite Dean and grabbed some papers.

"So do you guys know what we're actually hunting yet?" she asked the table.

Sam spoke first, "well, we know it's definitely a spirit. It's taken twenty young women over the last twenty years. We know that there used to be a prison next door, and they used the ground that this building was built on to hang the prisoners."

"OK, so have you got a list of all the people that were hanged here?" Mel asked looking up at Sam.

"Yeah, just printed it off actually. Was going to take a look when you showed up."

Mel got up from her seat and went to stand behind Sam. She started scanning through the list of names looking for something to jump out at her. After a minute she saw something, "H H Holmes. That name sounds familiar."

Dean and JO looked up as Sam replied. "H H Holmes. He was America's first serial killer. Known for kidnapping young women and hiding them in the walls of his building. He would torture them, and eventually leave them to starve to death…..if they made it through the torture that is."

"This is it, he's got to be our guy. Son of a Bitch! I bet he's hiding these girls in the walls here." Dean said getting up to stand by Mel. Mel shivered as his arm brushed against her. If Dean noticed he didn't say anything.

"Sam, we're going to have to scan the building for EMF, and see if we can work out where he's taken them" Dean grabbed his EMF reader, and hand gun from the table. "Lets split up into pairs and see what we can find."

Jo got up from the table, "OK Dean I'll go with you, Mel you go with Sam" Mel raised her eyebrows, "Jo, I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to go with Dean. I'd feel better if you stuck with me, where I can keep an eye on you."

Dean looked over at Mel angrily "And I'd feel better if she was with me. I don't need Ellen on my ass if anything happens to her. I can look after her…..she'll be safer with me."

Mel looked at Dean incredulously, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm a damn good hunter, don't you dare imply that you're better than me."

"Look guys, no one is questioning how well you can both do your job, but we really need to get moving on this, peoples lives are in danger" Sam looked to both Mel and Dean who suddenly looked shame faced at arguing when they should be hunting this evil SOB.

"OK Jo, you go with Dean, I'll go with Sam. Make sure you keep your cell on and let us know if you find anything." Mel grabbed Sam by the arm and with one last glare in Dean's direction left the room.

"Is your brother always so damn cocky" she asked Sam as they started scanning the walls.

"I'd like to say no, but…." Sam trailed off. "So we've heard a few things about you. Sounds like you're a damn good hunter if it's true."

Mel smiled at Sam "Could say the same about you and your brother. You know how hunters like to gossip. And Bobby is always talking about you guys. How long have you known him? He's got a real soft spot for you."

"We've known Bobby for as long as I can remember. Helped my Dad out a lot when we were younger, til they had a falling out."

"I heard about that. Didn't Bobby threaten to shoot him?"

"Yeah, got the gun out and everything. My Dad seemed to bring that out in a lot people," Sam sighed lightly.

Mel reached out a hand to him, "I was really sorry to hear about your Dad. Ellen said it was the demo?"

"Yeah, we just don't know all the details yet, and thanks." Sam moved away further down the hall and Mel looked after him. There was something heartbreaking about his face when he talked about his Dad.

After an hour of looking they still hadn't turned anything up.

"I'm going to give Dean a call, see if they've had more luck than us." Sam pulled out his cell and dialled Dean's number. He answered after what seemed an age and Mel could tell that there was something going on. "What do you mean the spirit took her Dean, where were you? Right ok, just stay there, we'll come to you."

Mel just looked at Sam before mouthing "Jo" and taking off in the direction that Dean and Jo had left in earlier.


End file.
